Water Quality Legend

Current Status

Grey means water quality information for the beach is too old (more than 7 days old) to be considered current, or that info is unavailable, or unreliable.

Historical Status

When swimming season is over or when a beach's water quality data has not been updated frequently enough (weekly) it goes into historical status. This means that rather than displaying current data it displays the beach's average water quality for that year.

Green means the beach passed water quality tests 95% of the time or more.

Yellow means the beach passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time.

Red means the beach failed water quality tests 40% of the time or more.

Special Status

We may manually set the status for a specific beach if we have concerns about the sampling protocol, if there is an emergency, if monitoring practices don't exist or have recently changed, or other reasons that render this site "special."

Green means the beach has historically excellent or pristine water quality, but there is no current data.

Red means the water at the site has water quality issues or there is an emergency.

Grey means there is no current water quality information, the beach is under construction, there has been an event that has rendered water quality information unreliable or unavailable.

See the beach description for more information regarding their special status.

SSI - 5th St. Crossover is sampled weekly from April 1st to October 1st

SOURCE INFORMATION

The Beach Water Monitoring program is a cooperative effort of the Coastal Resources Division and the Coastal Health District. All public beach waters are monitored for the presence of fecal coliform bacteria, specifically enterococci. Georgia coastal waters are monitored year round but the peak monitoring season is from April - October.

The beach water on Tybee Island, St. Simons Island, and Jekyll Island is tested weekly. However, from December to March Tier I beaches are tested bi-weekly. Tier II beaches along coastal Georgia are tested monthly.

As of January 1, 2016, the Beach Monitoring and Notification Program began using a new bacterial level threshold – recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – in order to determine when swimming advisories should be issued. The new bacterial threshold value recommended by the EPA is more protective of public health.

A coastal beach is marked Green when the single sample results show Enterococci counts below 100 cfu / 100ml of water or when the geometric mean of 5 samples are fewer than 35 MPN (Most Probable Number) colonies of Enterococci per 100 ml of water.

All other waters are marked Green when the single sample results show Enterococci counts below 200 cfu / 100ml of water.

A coastal beach is marked Red when two consecutive single sample results show Enterococci counts above 100 cfu/ 100 ml of water or when the geometric mean of 5 samples is greater than 35 MPN of Enterococci / 100 ml of water.

All other waters are marked Red when two consecutive single sample results show Enterococci counts above 200 cfu/ 100 ml of water.

A beach is marked Grey when there is no current or reliable monitoring information available.

SSI - 5th St. Crossover is sampled weekly from April 1st to October 1st

SOURCE INFORMATION

The Beach Water Monitoring program is a cooperative effort of the Coastal Resources Division and the Coastal Health District. All public beach waters are monitored for the presence of fecal coliform bacteria, specifically enterococci. Georgia coastal waters are monitored year round but the peak monitoring season is from April - October.

The beach water on Tybee Island, St. Simons Island, and Jekyll Island is tested weekly. However, from December to March Tier I beaches are tested bi-weekly. Tier II beaches along coastal Georgia are tested monthly.

As of January 1, 2016, the Beach Monitoring and Notification Program began using a new bacterial level threshold – recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – in order to determine when swimming advisories should be issued. The new bacterial threshold value recommended by the EPA is more protective of public health.

A coastal beach is marked Green when the single sample results show Enterococci counts below 100 cfu / 100ml of water or when the geometric mean of 5 samples are fewer than 35 MPN (Most Probable Number) colonies of Enterococci per 100 ml of water.

All other waters are marked Green when the single sample results show Enterococci counts below 200 cfu / 100ml of water.

A coastal beach is marked Red when two consecutive single sample results show Enterococci counts above 100 cfu/ 100 ml of water or when the geometric mean of 5 samples is greater than 35 MPN of Enterococci / 100 ml of water.

All other waters are marked Red when two consecutive single sample results show Enterococci counts above 200 cfu/ 100 ml of water.

A beach is marked Grey when there is no current or reliable monitoring information available.

Swim Guide shares the best information we have at the moment you ask for it. Always obey signs at the beach or advisories from official government agencies. Stay alert and check for other swimming hazards such as dangerous currents and tides. Please report your pollution concerns so Affiliates can help keep other beach-goers safe.
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